Nigel Farage's Ukip looks to have won its first seat in Scotland in the European Parliament elections.
Not all the results are in yet, but it appears certain that David Coburn has been voted in as one of Scotland's six MEPs.
Alex Salmond's SNP had been battling to increase their tally of MEPs from two to three - a result which would have boosted the party ahead of September's independence referendum
But with all but one of Scotland's council areas having declared their results, it appeared they had failed to win enough votes to achieve this.
The SNP polled most votes in the European Parliament elections, but have so far failed to increase their share of the vote from the last European elections in 2009.
The Liberal Democrats appeared to have lost their Scottish MEP, following a fall in their support.
With 31 of Scotland's 32 councils having declared their results, the SNP had 386,193 votes, ahead of Labour who came second with 346,377.
The Conservatives were in third place with 230,569, while Ukip - which wants the UK to withdraw from the European Union - came in fourth with 139,687. The Greens beat the Liberal Democrats into sixth place, with the parties winning 107,805 and 95,076 votes respectively.
The final figures will be known later today, when Western Isles Council declares its results.
But the results so far give the SNP 28.9% of the vote ahead of Labour on 25.9%, and the Conservatives on 17.2%. Ukip polled 10.4% of the votes, ahead of the Scottish Green Party, who secured 8.1%, while the Liberal Democrats were sixth with 7.1%.
Mr Coburn, who looks certain to be sent to Brussels as Ukip's first Scottish MEP, vowed his party would "stand up to Salmond and his nasty little dictatorship".
He said: "This result says people in Scotland are as worried about the same things as everyone else in the rest of the United Kingdom.
"We all have the same problems that need to be resolved and, quite frankly, Mr Salmond seems to think that Scotland is so different from everywhere else - well, it's not.
"In England the people are just the same as the people in Scotland, they're just as nice, just as pleasant, and they have the same problems and they need to be resolved."
He said the campaign for Scottish independence is a ridiculous idea.
"I'm a patriotic Scot and, as far as I'm concerned, the union between Scotland and England has lasted for 300 years, and has enabled both countries to punch above their weight, and we have a stable currency - what's not to like about that?" Mr Coburn argued.
"I'd like to see both Scotland and England leaving the EU together and running our own affairs.
"I'd like to see less Westminster and less Holyrood in everybody's lives. I think that would be a good thing for Scotland.
"I want to get the weight of the socialist Scottish state off the back of the Scottish entrepreneur. And, most of all, I want to see every child in Scotland get a thoroughly good education."
Ukip's shock breakthrough gives the Scottish independence campaign a serious problem, he said.
"Ukip are not going to sit down and be quiet like all the other parties," he continued.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ukip-set-first-seat-scotland-235719944.html
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